Pacino pulls off heartfelt change in ‘Danny Collins’
Given that Al Pacino is a rock star among actors, it’s no surprise that he can play a rock star.
As the title character in “Danny Collins,” he nails the swagger, the charm, the flashy suits with the scarves casually looped around his neck, the fake tan, the carefully colored and coiffed hair, the chunky silver jewelry and the shirt unbuttoned enough to reveal some chest hair and the edge of a tattoo.
Danny is a singer with three exwives and a live-in fiancee half his age, decades of alcohol and cocaine use and abuse, a 40-year career that’s yielded three volumes of greatest hits, and the ability to pack a Los Angeles theater with adoring fans. True, they’re not millennials, but they are enthusiastic, wearing vintage T-shirts and singing along on his signature tune, “Hey Baby Doll,” sort of his “Sweet Caroline.”
“Did you see those ‘Golden Girls’ in the front row? Three of them, each one older than the next,” he says to Frank (Christopher Plummer), his longtime manager and best friend. Danny has no illusions about what he does on stage; he’s an emcee, “a court jester with a microphone.”
That is driven home when he receives a letter John Lennon wrote to him in 1971 but which went astray until now. Lennon read an interview with the then-newcomer and the Beatle suggested Danny try to stay true to his music and to
himself and provided his home phone number so they (and Yoko Ono) could talk.
Danny tries, very belatedly, to take Lennon’s advice and checks into a Hilton in suburban New Jersey and contacts the child he’s never met. Old habits and resentments die hard, although Danny knows how to use his fame, fortune and tour bus emblazoned with his smiling mug for good.
First-time director and writer Dan Fogelman (“Crazy, Stupid, Love,” “Last Vegas”) was inspired by the real-life story of English folk musician and songwriter Steve Tilston. Like the fictional rocker, he gave an interview to a music magazine, ruminated on whether becoming wealthy would damage his songwriting abilities and caught the eye of Lennon, who penned a letter that found its way into a collector’s hands instead of the intended recipient’s.
Mr. Tilston, who appears in a clip at the end of the movie, never achieved the level of success of a Danny Collins and trying to imagine or even amble down the road not taken is a popular jumping off point for a movie.
This is a fresh take on the theme and blessed by Mr. Pacino’s charismatic, effortlessly engaging performance and those of supporting players, Annette Bening, Bobby Cannavale, Jennifer Garner and Mr. Plummer. The Lennon estate liked the movie enough to grant access to nine of the legend’s songs and they are used judiciously but well.
It’s hard to believe word wouldn’t leak out that Danny is staying at a small Jersey Hilton, and Mr. Fogelman feels the need to add a medical complication to the mix. That very nearly collapses the house of cards but by that point, you’re so invested in the characters and the Rubik’s cube of relationships that you hope the movie ends on a harmonious note in every way.